Wonderlands

Gumi is a good-sized Korean city (don't ask me exactly how big - it had a lot of high rises, so to this country girl that equals big city!). The window in Mark and Kristen's living room though overlooks a highway running in front of tree-covered hills on the outskirts of the city. We had noticed that the cities were built exclusively in the valleys of these hills, making for some interesting contrast between wooded hills and concrete jungles. Mark and Kristen explained that some Buddhist idea or tradition kept people from building on hills. As in China everything was cold, brown, and barren, and I spent more than one outing wishing I had a few more layers of clothing to warm up with.

Because we were there during several week days, John and I had to entertain ourselves a bit while Mark and Kristen were slaving away teaching their classes. One of the days we did get to go in and see the place where they work, which was fun. Mark and Kristen are both teaching English at a Korean run school. Kids of all ages come in their pressed plaid uniforms for their English classes, which is above and beyond their required school curriculum. The school is called "Wonderland", and the décor matches it's name. We entered the school, on the third floor of a high rise, and removed our shoes as all the proper young Koreans do. The walls were covered with posters, there were bookshelves filled with a variety of English kids books, little painted footprints marked off the pathway to the bathroom and the different classrooms, and the walls and floor were painted a variety of colors. You almost did expect to see a Cheshire cat peak out at you from around the corner.

Mark and Kristen wanted to show us around their workplace, but of course their real motive was to show off Tikvah. She was immediately a big hit among Mark and Kristen's Korean coworkers. One particularly animated young lady exclaimed over and over in a high pitched voice about how cute Tikvah was, her pink miniskirt bouncing with her excitement and exuberance. The lady got down on Tikvah's level to get a better look, and soon produced a sucker from another room for her to enjoy. Tikvah took it all in with her usual coolness, though she did smile and grab the sucker without parental prodding.

It was early in the afternoon, and classes had not yet resumed post-lunch time. The classes at that time were populated by younger students, and the place was a cacophony of childish laughter. We wandered around to the different rooms, and the children practiced their varying English skills on us. Some simply said "hello!", some just pointed and laughed, other's were so bold as to ask, "what's you're name?" It was fun to see Mark and Kristen in their niche, and it gave us a healthy respect for their work there. Once we had left the noisy building, John confided "I sure don't think I could handle that!" But Mark and Kristen seem to be genuinely enjoying their work and the kids that they teach. And the kids seem to be enjoying them as well.

We made the rounds while Tikvah stared at kids and sucked on her sucker. When we reached the front desk again, another adoring Korean lady offered her a little snack, and Tikvah promptly tossed away her remaining sucker and took the new gift. We bid Mark and Kristen farewell and headed back toward their apartment, which was less than a 10 minute walk away.

Back in the apartment Tikvah resumed her cat torturing. Mark and Kristen had recently acquired a kitten, which was quite energetic and very unsure of Tikvah when we first arrived. And rightfully so - Tikvah would pet or grab or hit the cat whenever it was close enough. But after the first day or so, the cat seemed to resign itself to it's fate, and often calmly allowed Tikvah to do as she pleased without suffering retaliation. Mark and Kristen marveled at how calm and quiet the cat was when they would get home. Apparently it would usually bounce off the walls when they returned to the apartment. Tikvah and the cat did a good job of wearing each other out!

John and I returned to reading and the computer. We were perhaps a little too enthralled with the wonderland of free, fast internet. In PNG we had good internet, but we paid for our usage depending on how many megabytes of information we downloaded per month. That meant we often browsed the internet with pictures turned off and that we never looked at videos or listened to music. We had had free internet at my friend's house in China too, but there certain websites (like Facebook and Youtube) are blocked by the government, so we didn't have access to everything. Here in Korea, however, internet access was back to 'normal', and suddenly there were a thousand Youtube videos we needed to watch and so many craft sites and Amazon deals that I really needed to check out. We figured the internet would eventually lose its luster in our eyes, but for now we indulged a bit. But since John had sold his computer in Ukarumpa, we only had one with us and therefore had to take turns on the internet binge. Which was probably a good thing, altogether. We did have a few moments of, "c'mon, you don't need to watch that motorcycle video right now - I want to play my Wordchuck game!!!" We managed to get by without hurting each other though.

The other great wonderland, of both China and Korea, was the food. We ate more things which we couldn't begin to identify than we had in our lives put together, I'm sure. Things on noodles, things on rice, meats and roots and leaves cooked in spice. If you were one of those kids who couldn't stand to eat anything that looked weird, then the dishes served in these countries would have been your worst nightmare come to life (well, fortunately everything we ate was dead!). John and I enjoyed it for the most part, and Tikvah did valiantly well all things considered, though she probably lived largely on rice when we went out for a meal.

One evening after Mark and Kristen got off work, we all went to one of their favorite restaurants. It was a cozy place with wooden floors, a traditional seating area where the tables were on the floor as well as an area with taller tables and chairs. Each table was equipped with a smoldering pit of coals at it's center and a star-trek like vacuum tube hanging above it from the ceiling. On top of the coals was a hot, round, griddle on which each customer could cook their own meat, brought raw on a plate from the kitchen. It would have been a very enjoyable place to eat had Tikvah not decided from the get-go that she was extremely hungry and nothing was going to make her happy.

I offered her rice, and her response was "BAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!" I offered her soup, and her response was "BAAAAHHHHHHH!!!" All accompanied by the classic throwing back of the head in utter disdain. And while she was screaming at everything I offered, she was at the same time of course grabbing for everything in sight. And there was plenty for her to grab. The Koreans apparently like variety, and doing lots of dishes. The meals were comprised of a myriad of small plates and bowls each containing something different. At another restaurant John counted 45 different dishes on the table at once!

So Tikvah wailed and grabbed and wailed again, till she managed to snag a bit of kimchee, that infamous Korean staple which is fermented spicy cabbage. We each held our breath as Tikvah nonchalantly stuck the spiciness into her mouth, waiting for the scream of anger and horror to erupt. We waited a few seconds, and then a few more, but there was no reaction. She munched and chewed, with not the slightest bit of annoyance registering on her face. A few more chews and then she unceremoniously put the kimchee down and looked around for something else to eat. I was amazed! Somehow this child who had blown her top at every little thing managed to chew a very spicy piece of food which many non-Koreans dislike, and she didn't even blink! Strange creatures, children are. She did settle down somewhat, once Uncle Mark got the meat cooked and she found the metal chopsticks to play with. She may have got the kimchee thing down, but never really got the hang of the whole chopstick thing. Several times she would stab a bowl of rice with one chopstick and then be surprised when she didn't get any rice to her mouth.

Overall I really enjoyed the food in China and Korea both. It was incredibly unique, and I was constantly amazed at how completely different their food culture is from our meat, bread, and potatoes heritage in the West. Kristen said most Koreans don't even own an oven, and the one in their apartment was more akin to a large toaster oven. And I thought my oven in Ukarumpa was small! Compared to hers it was luxury size! But though I did enjoy the food, I've decided I probably won't be seeking out Asian restaurants here in the US anytime soon. At least, not until September-ish. Hopefully after the baby is born my tastebuds will be back to normal and I can enjoy Asian cuisine a little more.